In these high-tech times of constant change, it’s remarkable that over ten years since the advent of online job boards, they still have a significant presence online and in the world of recruiting, without many significant changes.
Few people know this about us, but Career Edge Organization actually put up the first electronic job board in Canada back in the 90’s.
Before electronic job boards, community newspaper classifieds was the best place for a job-seeker to look for work. In today’s globalized economy, employers need to reach talent on a global scale in order to stay competitive. Until recently, this has taken place in the form of posting jobs online. But we have to ask – what’s next?
As an organization that was an early leader in bringing together technology and recruitment in Canada, keeping our finger on the pulse is among our top priorities.
That’s why next week on September 22nd and 23rd, Career Edge Organization will be attending the “Recruitment Innovation Summit” held by the Human Resources Networking Group (HRNG). We will be among some of the most influential decision-makers in Canada’s business community as an exhibitor.
The summit will focus on the latest innovations in recruitment, including panel discussions on “Social Networking Strategies” and “Sourcing 3.0.”
I am hoping the summit will help address some of the opportunities and challenges around social media recruiting (or as some call it, “web 2.0 recruiting”). Growing numbers of hiring managers and HR professionals in Canada can be found online “creeping” the Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts of potential new employees.
While this can be an incredibly powerful tool, there may also be unforeseen risks to employers. One of the issues is the potential to screen out candidates based on discriminatory grounds (either consciously or subconsciously).
Through social media, recruiters can access sensitive information about candidates such as age, marital status, appearance, race, religious affiliation and sexual orientation (just look any facebook profile page and you’ll see what I mean). Studies have also increasingly found that minorities are underrepresented in popular North American online social networking sites. These and many other issues are worth consideration and discussion especially in a Country as diverse as Canada.
At Career Edge Organization, we see the potential opportunities to be gained from social media recruiting and are committed to educating ourselves and staying on top of emerging trends – and most importantly, passing the info on to you! But, we do so with caution and upholding our ultimate values and mandate of helping to create and promote diverse workforces.